Background

The following results present a mapping analysis undertaken by a group of MPA students at University College London (UCL) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), who are a member of the UN-IATT WS6. The research evidence is a part of a wider research project exploring the transformative value of STI policy capacity building for the SDGs. The purpose of this analysis was to map global STI capacity building initiatives to establish the most current landscape on such programmes, their relationship to the SDGs, as well as gaps and opportunities in the field. This also served to position the UN-IATT workshops in the global context of STI capacity building. Our research mapped where global initiatives are taking place, who is involved in them, how they are being delivered and their topics. To accomplish this, we undertook desktop research and used a web scraping software to collect raw data on global STI policy training initiatives. Content analysis of each initiative enabled them to be mapped according to the research focus.

This activity was an initial attempt to map global STI capacity building initiatives to fill a gap in the current literature and gather insights that were relevant to the project, as well as the UN-IATT. However, this is by no means a conclusive and finalised account of all available initiatives. Therefore, the researchers welcome contributors to use and add to the dataset.

The following results present the characteristics of global STI capacity building initiatives collected by the researchers following a web scraping exercise.

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Country of organisation SDG Connection Delivery Method Training Type Levels Duration Target audience Training provider
Japan High In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
Belgium High Online - Teams Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
South Africa High In Person Short Course Advanced < 1 month Professionals Academic institution
UK Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
South Korea High Online - Others Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
USA Medium Online - Others MOOC Intermediate < 3 months Professionals Private organisation
UK Medium In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Russia Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
Canada Medium Online - Others Short Course Advanced < 3 months Professionals Academic institution
UK Medium Guidebook Guidebook Advanced NA Professionals Academic institution
USA Medium Online - Others Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
USA Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
UK High In Person Degree Advanced < 1 year Students Academic institution
UK Medium Online - Zoom Short Course Advanced < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
China Medium In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
UK Medium In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
USA High Online - Others Short Course Intermediate < 3 months Professionals Academic institution
France High Online - Others Short Course Advanced < 6 months Other Non-governmental agency
USA Medium Online - Others Short Course Advanced < 1 month Students Academic institution
USA High Online - Others Short Course Intermediate Unspecified General Non-governmental agency
USA Medium Online - Others Degree Advanced < 3 months Students Academic institution
USA Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
Pakistan Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Low Online - Zoom MOOC Intermediate < 1 week Students Academic institution
UK Low Online - Zoom Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA High Online - Teams Workshop Advanced < 1 week General Non-governmental agency
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
Russia Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
India Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 month Professionals Academic institution
USA Low Online - Others Short Course Basic Unspecified Students Academic institution
UK Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
New Zealand Low In Person Degree Advanced < 1 year Students Academic institution
Ethiopia Medium Online - Others Short Course Intermediate < 3 months Professionals Non-governmental agency
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
Pakistan Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
N/A Low Publication Guidebook Advanced Unspecified General Other
Malaysia Medium In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
South Africa Medium In Person Short Course Advanced Unspecified Professionals Academic institution
Switzerland High Online - Others Short Course Advanced < 3 months Professionals Non-governmental agency
Japan Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
UK Low Online - Zoom Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Netherlands Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 month Professionals Academic institution
Australia Low Online - Zoom Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Japan Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Professionals Academic institution
Ethiopia Low Online - Others Short Course Intermediate < 1 month Professionals Non-governmental agency
USA Low Online - Others Short Course Basic < 1 week General Academic institution
Switzerland Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week General Non-governmental agency
USA Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
USA Low Online - Zoom Short Course Intermediate < 3 months Students Academic institution
Russia Low In Person Degree Intermediate < 6 months Students Academic institution
India Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 month General Government agency
China Low In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Academic institution
India Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
India Low Online - Zoom Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Bosnia and Herzegovina Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Tanzania Low Online - Others Guidebook Basic Unspecified General Non-governmental agency
India Low In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
India Low Online - Others Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Multiple Medium Online - Zoom Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
South Korea Medium In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
UK Low Online - Zoom Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
South Africa High In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Russia Low Online - Others Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Russia Low Online - Others Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Thailand Low In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 month Professionals Academic institution
Ghana High In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Pakistan Low In Person Short Course Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Kenya Low In Person Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
UK Medium Online - Zoom Workshop Advanced < 1 week Other Academic institution
Ethiopia Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Colombia Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Academic institution
Jordan Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
China Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Brazil Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Belgium Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Thailand Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Sri Lanka Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Chile Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
USA Low In Person Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Seychelles Low Online - Others Workshop Basic < 1 week Professionals Government agency
Denmark High In Person Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Lebanon High Online - Teams Workshop Advanced < 1 month Professionals Non-governmental agency
USA High Online - Teams Workshop Advanced < 1 week General Non-governmental agency
South Korea High In Person Workshop Advanced < 1 week General Non-governmental agency
France High Online - Teams Short Course Advanced < 6 months General Non-governmental agency
France High Online - Teams Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Thailand Medium Online - Zoom Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
UK High Online - Zoom Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
UK High In Person Workshop Intermediate < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
India High In Person Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Republic of Congo High In Person Workshop Advanced < 1 week Professionals Non-governmental agency
Japan High In Person Degree Advanced 1 year + Students Non-governmental agency

Purpose

In 2015, the United Nations set up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve a more sustainable future. 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were proposed in the 2030 Agenda to achieve the balance between economic, social and environmental development (United Nations, 2015b). Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) are identified as an important component for achieving the SDGs by 2030 (United Nations, 2015a). The last goal, SDG17, relates to the implementation of the SDGs and fostering global cooperation and partnerships. SDG17 has 19 targets, one of which is to “strengthen the science, and innovation capacity in the least developed countries” (Target 17.8, SDG 17). The “Technology Facilitation Mechanism” (TFM) was launched to support the implementation of the SDGs, and the UN Interagency Task Team (IATT) on STI for SDGs is one of its mechanisms to actualise TFM (United Nations, 2021a).

The UN-IATT’s Workstream 6 (WS6) focuses on STI capacity building (CB) and began to deliver training sessions on STI policy for SDGs in 2017, especially for developing economics (United Nations, 2021b). WS6 aims to improve the capacity of policymakers, public sector experts and other key STI stakeholders by informing them of the approaches of STI policymaking and policy implementation, and to enhance their ability to integrate STI into their strategies to achieve the SDGs (UN-IATT, 2021).

Summary Statistics

The desktop research returned a total of 97 STI capacity building initiatives. Each of these were mapped to different characteristics.

Topic

Figure 1: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives covering different topics.

Topics Number of initiatives
Policymaking 44
Monitoring and Evaluation 38
Emerging Technology 32
Entrepreneurship 21
Economics 19
Analytic Methods 18
Environment 16
Research and Development 14
Society and Culture 14
Political Environment 13
Science Diplomacy 13
Frameworks 12
SDGs 12
Sustainable Development 11
Policy Instruments 10
Case Studies 9
Intellectual Property 9
Policy Implementation 9
Education 8
Energy 8
Funding 7
Science Advocacy 7
Roadmap 7
Healthcare 6
Gender 6
Innovation Systems 6
Digitalisation 5
COVID-19 4
Space 3
Foresight 2
Policy Analysis 1
Risk 1

Table 1: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to each topic

Country of Organisations

Figure 2: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Country of organisation Number of STI Initiatives
USA 23
UK 13
India 7
Russia 5
Japan 4
China 3
Ethiopia 3
France 3
Pakistan 3
South Africa 3
South Korea 3
Thailand 3
Belgium 2
Switzerland 2
Australia 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Brazil 1
Canada 1
Chile 1
Colombia 1
Denmark 1
Ghana 1
Jordan 1
Kenya 1
Lebanon 1
Malaysia 1
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 1
Republic of Congo 1
Seychelles 1
Sri Lanka 1
Tanzania 1

Table 2: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Note: Initiatives with unspecified and multiple countries were excluded.

Training Provider

Figure 3: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of organisation providing training.

Training provider Number of STI Initiatives
Academic institution 52
Non-governmental agency 32
Government agency 11
Other 1
Private organisation 1

Table 3: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of organisation providing training.

Training Type

Figure 4: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of training programme.

Training Type Number of STI Initiatives
Workshop 39
Short Course 27
Degree 26
Guidebook 3
MOOC 2

Table 4: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of training programme.

*MOOC - Massive Online Open Course

STI Expertise

The ‘advanced’ level indicates that the course covers STI policy best practice, emerging issues, case studies, indicators of success and how to track impact, whilst targeting individuals with a high level of knowledge and expertise. The ‘intermediate’ level covers the basics of STI policy and some prior knowledge of policymaking is desirable for participation. The ‘basic’ level covers the very basics of policymaking and barriers to entry are very low as no prior knowledge and experience are required.

Figure 5: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of STI expertise.

Levels Number of STI Initiatives
Advanced 46
Intermediate 34
Basic 17

Table 5: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of STI expertise.

Duration

Figure 6: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the length of their durations.

Duration Number of STI Initiatives
< 1 week 49
1 year + 22
< 1 month 8
< 3 months 7
Unspecified 5
< 6 months 3
< 1 year 2
NA 1

Table 6: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the length of their durations.

Locality

Figure 7: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to their localities.

Region or Country Specific Number of STI Initiatives
Unspecified 51
Regional 31
Country-specific 15

Table 7: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to their localities.

Target Audience

Figure 8: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of target audience.

Target audience Number of STI Initiatives
Professionals 56
Students 29
General 10
Other 2

Table 8: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of target audience.

Target Audience Location

Figure 9: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to target audience location.

Target Audience Location Number of STI Initiatives
Any 35
Multiple 15
Unspecified 10
Africa 9
USA 7
India 5
Asia Pacific 2
Europe 2
South East Asia 2
Canada 1
China 1
East Asia 1
Ghana 1
Iran 1
Jordan 1
Latin America 1
Seychelles 1
South Asia 1
Thailand 1

Table 9: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to target audience location.

Delivery Method

Figure 10: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of delivery method.

Delivery Method Number of STI Initiatives
In Person 58
Online - Others 19
Online - Zoom 12
Online - Teams 6
Publication 1
NA 1

Table 10: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the type of delivery method.

SDG Connection

The level of the SDG connection gives an indication of how closely STI policy capacity building initiatives are aligned with the SDGs.

A ‘low’ SDG connection suggests there is no mention of the SDGs. The training may have some mention of sustainability, but this is a minor aspect.

A ‘medium’ SDG connection indicates that sustainability may be a significant focus of the workshop, although there is little to no explicit connection to the SDGs.

A ‘high’ SDG connection shows that the training is highly relevant to the SDGs and there should be an explicit connection made in the course title or description.

Figure 11: Distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the strength of their connection to the SDGs.

SDG Connection Number of STI Initiatives
High 23
Medium 22
Low 52

Table 11: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the strength of their connection to the SDGs.

SDG Connection: a close look

The level of the SDG connection gives an indication of how closely STI policy capacity building initiatives are aligned with the SDGs. The contribution of the SDGs in the content of the STI capacity building initiatives was highly variable. To better understand the differences that the levels of SDG connection had on the characteristics of STI capacity building, further analysis was conducted. This allowed for the dissemination of the interdependencies and gaps that that exist in STI capacity building for the SDGs.

A ‘low’ SDG connection suggests there is no mention of the SDGs. The training may have some mention of sustainability, but this is a minor aspect.

A ‘medium’ SDG connection indicates that sustainability may be a significant focus of the workshop, although there is little to no explicit connection to the SDGs.

A ‘high’ SDG connection shows that the training is highly relevant to the SDGs and there should be an explicit connection made in the course title or description.

Training Provider

Figure 12: The relationship between the degree of SDG connection and the type of organisation providing training in global STI capacity building initiatives.

SDG Connection
Type of organisation Low Medium High
Academic institution 31 17 4
Government agency 9 0 2
Non-governmental agency 11 4 17
Other 1 0 0
Private organisation 0 1 0

Table 12: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of SDG connection and the type of organisation providing training.

Country by Organisations

High

Figure 13: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a high connection to the SDGs according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.



Country of organisation Number of STI Initiatives
USA 4
France 3
UK 3
Japan 2
South Africa 2
South Korea 2
Belgium 1
Denmark 1
Ghana 1
India 1
Lebanon 1
Republic of Congo 1
Switzerland 1

Table 13: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a high SDG connection according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Medium

Figure 14: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a medium connection to the SDGs according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.



Country of organisation Number of STI Initiatives
USA 8
UK 5
Canada 1
China 1
Ethiopia 1
Malaysia 1
Multiple 1
Russia 1
South Africa 1
South Korea 1
Thailand 1

Table 14: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a medium SDG connection according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Low

Figure 15: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a low connection to the SDGs according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Country of organisation Number of STI Initiatives
USA 11
India 6
UK 5
Russia 4
Pakistan 3
China 2
Ethiopia 2
Japan 2
Thailand 2
Australia 1
Belgium 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Brazil 1
Chile 1
Colombia 1
Jordan 1
Kenya 1
N/A 1
Netherlands 1
New Zealand 1
Seychelles 1
Sri Lanka 1
Switzerland 1
Tanzania 1

Table 13: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a low SDG connection according to the countries of the organisations providing programmes.

Training Type

Figure 16: The relationship between the degree of SDG connection and the type of training in global STI capacity building initiatives.



SDG Connection
Type of training Low Medium High
Degree 16 7 3
Guidebook 2 1 0
MOOC 1 1 0
Short Course 14 7 6
Workshop 19 6 14

Table 16: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of SDG connection and the delivery method.

Topics

High

Figure 17: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a high connection to the SDGs according to different topic areas.



Topic Count
Policymaking 10
Monitoring and Evaluation 10
SDGs 8
Emerging Technology 7
Sustainable Development 5
Political Environment 5
Analytic Methods 5
Case Studies 4
Policy Implementation 4
Roadmap 3
Frameworks 3
Policy Instruments 3
Society and Culture 3
Economics 2
Science Diplomacy 2
Gender 2
Environment 2
Research and Development 2
Healthcare 2
Innovation Systems 1
Energy 1
Foresight 1
Entrepreneurship 1
Education 1

Table 17: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a high SDG connection according to different topic areas.

Medium

Figure 18: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a medium connection to the SDGs according to different topic areas.

Topic Count
Monitoring and Evaluation 8
Economics 7
Emerging Technology 7
Policymaking 6
Political Environment 5
Entrepreneurship 5
Society and Culture 4
Funding 4
Energy 4
Environment 4
COVID-19 4
Digitalisation 3
Research and Development 3
Policy Instruments 3
Frameworks 3
Space 2
Innovation Systems 2
Sustainable Development 2
Education 2
Healthcare 2
Case Studies 1
Analytic Methods 1
Intellectual Property 1
Science Diplomacy 1
Policy Implementation 1
SDGs 1

Table 17: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a medium SDG connection according to different topic areas.

Low

Figure 19: The distribution of global STI capacity building initiatives with a low connection to the SDGs according to different topic areas.
Topic Count
Policymaking 28
Monitoring and Evaluation 20
Emerging Technology 18
Entrepreneurship 15
Analytic Methods 12
Science Diplomacy 10
Environment 10
Economics 10
Research and Development 9
Intellectual Property 8
Science Advocacy 7
Society and Culture 7
Frameworks 6
Education 5
Roadmap 4
Political Environment 4
Sustainable Development 4
Gender 4
Funding 4
Policy Instruments 4
Case Studies 4
Policy Implementation 4
Energy 3
SDGs 3
Innovation Systems 3
Healthcare 2
Digitalisation 2
Space 1
Policy Analysis 1
Risk 1
COVID-19 1
Foresight 1

Table 19: The number of global STI capacity building initiatives with a low SDG connection according to different topic areas.

Delivery Method

Figure 20: The relationship between the degree of SDG connection and the delivery method in global STI capacity building initiatives.

SDG Connection
Delivery Method Low Medium High
Guidebook 0 1 0
In Person 36 11 11
Online - Others 8 6 5
Online - Teams 0 0 6
Online - Zoom 7 4 1
Publication 1 0 0

Table 20: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of SDG connection and the delivery method.

STI Expertise

Figure 21: The relationship between the degree of SDG connection and the level of STI expertise in global STI capacity building initiatives.

SDG Connection
Level of STI expertise Low Medium High
Advanced 17 14 15
Intermediate 18 8 8
Basic 17 0 0

Table 21: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of SDG connection and the level of STI expertise.

Target Audience

Figure 22: The relationship between the degree of SDG connection and the type of target audience in global STI capacity building initiatives.

SDG Connection
Type of target audience Low Medium High
General 5 0 5
Other 0 1 1
Professionals 29 13 14
Students 18 8 3

Table 22: Number of global STI capacity building initiatives according to the level of SDG connection and the type of target audience.





References

United Nations. (2015a). ‘Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development’. Available at: https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf (Accessed: 6 July 2021).

United Nations. (2015b). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/publication (Accessed: 8 July 2021).

United Nations. (2021a). Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/tfm (Accessed: 12 August 2021).

United Nations. (2021b). UN capacity-building programme on technology facilitation for SDGs. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/tfm/interagency-task-team/capacity (Accessed: 7 July 2021).

UN-IATT. (2021). ‘Progress Report and Way forward of the activities of the Interagency Task Team (UN-IATT) Work Stream 6 (WS6) on Capacity Building on STI for SDGs’.